While life carries on in the city (3 shooting incidents that have affected some of our students in the past month, politics of a new governor, major episodes of vandalism, etc) I've found it easier to take all that happens around me for granted. The violence, especially, becomes numbing because you hear of it so much. So it's in our front doorstep now-- big deal. Blah. Another homicide? That's the norm.
The danger in this kind of attitude is that not only do you become numb, and thereby escape the angst that comes with mourning for the city, but you also harden your heart and escape having to care for people. You have to remind yourself that it's not normal. You shouldn't have to be telling kids at this age that it's "a part of life" when they tell you their friend was shot and killed. Christians living in the city need to be sensitive to what's going on and never accept it as normal. Just like any other sin that we live with in this world, we are called to be strangers here-- that means the culture of violence should be apalling to us and we shouldn't allow ourselves to "get used to it." The innocence we carry is the hope of Christ which lives in us. That is the "light" in John 1 that has not been overcome by darkness.
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